Opera singer Renee Fleming sings the national anthem before the Seattle Seahawks take on the Denver Broncos during Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. (Rob Carr, Getty Images)

OK, we lost the big game, the Super Bowl, but the Broncos gave us a winning season and a load of fun.

While others in the league were mouthing off and being jerks, the Broncos were a class act. We should thank them for a great season and for acting like gentlemen.

We all hate to hear it, but there’s always next year. We played this game without some of our key players, and when they come back, watch out.

Linda Neely, Aurora

This letter was published in the Feb. 4 edition.

I am so disgusted, disappointed and embarrassed by the Broncos’ miserable performance in the Super Bowl, I absolutely refuse to watch any more Broncos games for the next eight months. I’ve had it.

Mark Heifner, Denver

This letter was published in the Feb. 4 edition.

The highlight of the Super Bowl was Renee Fleming singing our national anthem before the game. I saw no mention of her performance in the Monday morning discussions of the game, the halftime ceremony and the commercials. Fleming’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” was beautiful.

Dorothy J. Donovan, Lakewood

This letter was published in the Feb. 4 edition.

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What better time to ponder the fact that football has no real effect on our lives — except as owners manage to get taxpayers to fund their stadiums.

Dano2

+1

Best,

D

primafacie

Other than a source of entertainment, a driver of conversation, a source (generally speaking) of civic pride and the subject of billions of dollars of private commerce, it has no effect on anyone.

peterpi

Except as a vehicle to complain about taxes.

primafacie

That may be true in some cities, not in others. In Santa Clara, Calif., where the 49ers will open their new digs next season, there are no additional taxes on residents, although a piece of a hotel-room tax will go toward some costs (the tax already exists). It’s otherwise privately financed.

Dano2

Ask a Seattleite how many stadiums and arenas (standing or not) they financed, and how much debt that is.

The vast majority of studies find that there are only a few stadiums privately financed. The rest are a money-loser and cost the taxpayers.

Best,

D

primafacie

So they may be.

Dano2

All my friends in Seattle who know football said “just wait, you’ll see”. All my other friends in Seattle jumped on the bandwagon, drowning out the indignation for all the debt the franchise made public.

I’m sure the billionaires who left the Puget Sound region on the hook for the still-indebted Kingdome (now dust in the wind) hope the honkie horn from the bandwagon drowns out the people calling for the billionaire’s heads for sticking the public with the bill for three stadiums (and an arena).

Best,

D

peterpi

It’s one game. Can’t you and johnrpack dispense with thr politics for one letter?

Dano2

Politics are completely intertwined with Murrica’s national secular religious day, and every Sunday in fall-winter. And people who don’t watch sports pay for it through their cable-sat bill, where about half the bill is for sports (esp college and pro football) games. Add the stadium subsidies and its one of the top 10-15 biggest grifts in the country.

That is: they can’t be separated.

Best,

D

peterpi

So, if NFL stadiums were privately funded, the loss by the Broncos would have been more bearable.
Riiiiight.

Dano2

If that’s what you need to tell yourself, hey – whatever gets you through the day.

Best,

D

bleeth

Real bummer about the Broncos.

They simply didn’t show up. Seattle deserved the win and I’m quite happy for them since they’ve never won a Superbowl.

Pilgrim

Sad the way things collapsed. Good thing it’s just entertainment. Time to move on.

Old_Enough

I started out watching the Puppy Bowl and would go to the superbowl channel for the commercials. The game was so bad it was like a train wreck I couldn’t stop watching. I kept expecting the Broncos to get better but it only got worse. Not only did they not show up, it would have been better if they really hadn’t shown up.

bleeth

After it was 20+ to 0, I couldn’t even stomach it anymore. I knew they were in trouble after the very first play.

Blow out games like this make it particularly hard to watch, especially when your team is on the losing side.

We did have a fantastic season though. It was a shame it had to end like this.

peterpi

In the second half, I kept hoping a blizzard would show up.

thor

I’m with Mark. I, too, will boycott Bronco football until the end of July. One thing is for sure, the Super Bowl lets us know that Spring training is just around the corner.

peterpi

I was thinking of boycotting watching until the first week in September.

Play (base)ball!

thor

Yes. Really stick it to them.

Robtf777

I doubt that even the most die-hard Seahawk fan could have…..wished for…..such a lop-sided victory for them and such a disaster of a performance by the Broncos.

Let’s face it. The first offensive play of the Broncos…..set the tone for the rest of the game…….and during the final few minutes that each team had the ball……neither side put any more than a half-effort to score any more points.

I can understand the Seahawks taking it easy……they had a 35 point lead. But it seemed that no one on the Broncos had even a remote interest of scoring even one more touchdown for “pride’s sake”……and simply kept running running plays to burn down the clock, get the game over with, and leave as soon as possible.

Yeah, I know: Why take a chance on getting hurt in the final minutes of a game you can’t possibly win just to make another touchdown that can’t possibly mean anything?

They ran running plays. They took a chance on getting hurt running running plays.

If the idea was to “avoid unnecessary injuries”…..perhaps Fox or Manning could have “thrown in the towel” at the 2-minute time-out……and conceded defeat then?

Regardless……The #1 Offense met the #1 Defense…….and the Offense went no where…..the Defense did its job……and result was……perhaps a tie with the most embarrassing of all defeats……that of the 49’s 55-10 win over the Broncos in a previous Super Bowl.

peterpi

Actually, it was ten points less embarrassing, LOL

peterpi

1) Renee Fleming was terrific

2) After the blown snap, I prayed, “Please, don’t let this be an omen!” I had visions of Blown Super Bowls Past.

3) This year, Seattle simply had the better team.

4) It’s a game. Denver will survive.

Papa Smurf

And Bruno Mars & The Red Hot Chili Peppers weren’t half bad either, if you like that sort of thing.

peterpi

My wife and I went to a hangout we like for their chicken wings, Quaker Steak & Lube. At half-time, though, we decided we’d rather wallow in misery at home. So we listened to Mr. Mars for a minute, paid our bill and left. By the time we got in the car, the radio announcer on KKFN was announcing Mr. Mars and assorted Chili Peppers had left the stage.
So, either their performance was over in less than 5 minutes — or the radio announcer was lying so they could fill the air time with commercials.
Either way, I didn’t hear enough to make a judgement.

primafacie

And I don’t. But they were better than the game.

Dave52

“…… Sherman also praised Manning during an interview Monday morning on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike.”

“When I was limping up to my press conference and trying to make it up the stairs, somebody taps me on the shoulder and extends their hand and asks if I’m all right,” Sherman said during the interview. “My eyes try to make it up to see who it is, and it’s Peyton … fully dressed in a suit and obviously very concerned about my well-being.

“You know, after a game like that, biggest stage ever — to ask how you’re doing and really be generally concerned about an opponent, that shows an incredibly different amount of humility and class.”

Sherman also explained Monday why he took to Twitter to defend Manning.

“People shouldn’t have to write to bash him after the season he had and everything he did … everything he’s accomplished in his career and this year as a football player,” Sherman said. “He is a Hall of Fame player, he’s a living legend, he’s a record-holding quarterback, he’s a Super Bowl champion, he’s been a Super Bowl MVP.

“I think if you want to criticize his play on the field, that’s fine. But don’t call some of the things that they were calling him.”

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